April 6 (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck a swath of central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing more than 250 people and flattening whole towns.

Following is a list of major earthquakes in Italy over the past century:

Sept 8, 1905 - Some 5,000 people are killed when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake tore through the Calabria region, obliterating 25 villages.

Dec 28, 1908 - Over 82,000 people are killed in a 7.2 magnitude earthquake which reduced Messina, Sicily's second town, to rubble. A tidal wave followed causing more devastation.

Jan 13, 1915 - Some 32,600 are killed when an earthquake measuring 7.0 struck Avezzano in central Italy.

July 27, 1930 - A quake measuring 6.5 strikes the region of Irpinia in southern Italy, killing around 1,400 people. May 6, 1976 - An earthquake measuring 6.5 rocks Friuli in Italy's northeastern corner, killing 976 people and leaving 70,000 others homeless.

Nov. 23, 1980 - Some 2,735 people are killed and more than 7,500 injured in an earthquake measuring 6.5. The epicentre was at Eboli but damage was reported over a huge area towards Naples.

Dec. 13, 1990 - Earthquake centred in the sea off Sicily kills 13 people and injures 200.

Sept. 26, 1997 - Two earthquakes measuring 6.4 kill 11 people and cause serious damage to the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, ruining priceless Medieval frescoes. A further quake measuring 5.1 hits Umbria days later causing damage.

July 17, 2001 - Earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale shakes the northern Italian region of Alto Adige, killing one woman.

Sept. 6, 2002 - An earthquake measuring 6.0 strikes Sicily. Two people died from heart attacks triggered by the earthquake which also damaged artistic treasures.

Oct. 31, 2002 - An earthquake measuring 5.9 hits Campobasso, south-central Italy, killing 30 people, most of them children, in San Giuliano di Puglia.

April 11, 2003 - An earthquake measuring 4.6 rocks northern Italy, rattling buildings from Milan to Turin and prompting officials to evacuate some schools.

April 6, 2009 - A powerful earthquake strikes central Italy, killing at least 92 people. Civil Protection Department officials said up to 50,000 people may be homeless in some 26 cities and towns. More than 1,500 people were injured as thousands of houses, churches and buildings collapsed.

-- The quake was centred in the Abruzzo region east of Rome. The dead were mainly in L'Aquila, a 13th century city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome with a population of 68,000.

Sources Reuters/USGS website